Five states facing power crisis to meet Goyal tomorrow

Due to shut down of some units of Mundra plants run by Tata Power and Adani Power some states are facing power crisis

Power ministers and representatives of five states, which are hit by energy crisis, will meet Union Minister Piyush Goyal tomorrow.

The states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab are facing power crises due to shut down of some units of Mundra plants run by Tata Power and Adani Power.

The representatives of these states will meet Goyal, Union Power and Coal Minister, tomorrow, a person close to the development said.

"The meeting will be held to discuss the power situation in these states as they were affected by the shut down of some units of Mundra plants of Tata Power and Adani Power," sources said.

Adani Power shut down about six generating units at its 4,620 MW Mundra plant in Gujarat, last week. This plant supplies electricity to Haryana and Gujarat.

Tata Power closed down two generating units at its 4,000 MW Mundra ultra mega power project on account of technical issues, last week.

Tata Mundra project supplies power to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab while that of Adani gives electricity to Gujarat and Haryana.

Last Monday, the Supreme Court had stayed the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity's interim order allowing compensatory tariffs for the two Mundra projects. These projects have been impacted by change in Indonesian coal pricing policy.

Following a change in Indonesia's coal-price regime in 2011, both Tata Power and Adani Power had approached Central Electricity Regulatory Commission seeking relief, which allowed them to charge higher tariffs from the state utilities as compensation for the costlier fuel.

The state discoms challenged this order before the appellate tribunal which directed them to pay compensatory tariff for March to May in six installments.

The discoms moved the Supreme Court against the appellate tribunal's decision.